


Daylight

by parttimehuman



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Sharing a Bed, Sleepy Cuddles, Softness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 12:45:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16305494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parttimehuman/pseuds/parttimehuman
Summary: Theo sneaks into Liam's bed at night. They start cuddling.





	Daylight

The first time it happens, Liam couldn't be any more confused. It's the middle of the night when he wakes up because he's accidentally fallen asleep over his homework again, fully clothed and not prepared for sleep at all, which causes his body to beg him to carry it to the bathroom for release at three in the morning. He does exactly that, discards his pants on the way there and his shirt on the way back, as per usual keeping his eyes mostly shut, just the bare minimum part of his brain even awake for his little bathroom trip.

 

It's not until when he slips back beneath the warmed up sheets that he realizes that something's off. Something that might even be worth opening his eyes, but Liam wills himself not to. He can't help the gasp that escapes him as he touches something that definitely doesn't belong in his bed, and something that definitely isn't one of the books he's brought there himself. Something warm and smooth and....  _ alive. _

 

Liam turns around with a rapidly beating heart to face the intruder, pinching himself in the arm, just to make sure he isn't dreaming it. Which he isn't. There's a totally real, living and evenly breathing person lying right in his bed next to him, covered by his sheets, head resting on his pillow.  Liam knows he must be crazy as he decides to simply go back to sleep and confront Theo about it in the morning. Too many questions are coming up that he can't find a plausible answer to. What is Theo doing in his bed? How did he even get inside the house? And why on earth would he do that?

 

Although it's definitely the strangest encounter Liam has ever had in his life, sleep finds him relatively easily once he's closed his eyes again. It doesn't make sense that Theo is lying so close to him, but it's not like there's any harm to it. It's only Theo, after all. Theo who doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Theo who looks kind of pretty when he's asleep, not that Liam would notice.

 

In the morning, Theo is gone. The other side of the bed is empty, and no sign of the other boy remains except for the scent clinging to the sheets. It almost feels like a dream, like that thing that happens quite often to Liam in the morning, when he can feel his memories of what was in his dreams slipping away from him, when there's nothing left but a faint emotion of what it did to him on the inside. Theo is gone, and over the next couple of days, it's like nothing's ever happened.

 

Theo doesn't look at him twice, doesn't treat him any differently. He's his usual charming, often sarcastic self, turns up to school in the mornings and to lacrosse practice in the afternoons. Everything that comes from Theo's part is exactly the same as before they shared a bed for one night. Everything that comes from Liam's part isn't, though.

 

It starts very subtle. His eyes linger just a second longer, he pays just a little more attention to the things Theo says when they hang out during lunch in with Mason and Corey at night. He's trying to find out what's up with Theo sneaking into his home, so it's easy to tell himself that's all he's doing. It takes some time before it becomes undeniable that what he really is doing, can strictly speaking be called crushing.

 

It's not Liam's fault, it's just that Theo is extremely handsome. Gross pretty, actually. He's got this gorgeous face and mesmerizing grey-green eyes with long lashes brushing over his cheek every time he blinks. The five-o'clock-shadow covering his jaw makes Liam's fingers itchy, and that smile that breaks out every time he finds something funny or amusing is absolutely to die for.

 

Before it can happen a second time, Liam thinks that maybe, possibly, the first time wasn't even the first time. It was the first time he noticed, but what if Theo has done that same thing before? They all know Theo's home life and the past of his family are a bit of a difficult topic, although Liam has to admit that he doesn't really know how or why. But he knows that if Theo needs to escape any of it, and if the safe place he seeks out for that is Liam's bed, then he sure as hell isn't going to push him away.

 

It does happen again, and it doesn't take so long. Liam doesn't wake up from it. He wouldn't even know if it weren't for the smell of Theo that engulfs him in the morning. He reaches for the other pillow and buries his nose inside it, inhaling deeply, and making a completely ridiculous, yet highly necessary squeaky noise of joy.  Theo was there again. That means he didn't completely dislike his bed the last time. That means there's something about Liam's bed worth coming back for. And maybe, maybe he isn't completely crazy for thinking that something could even be him.

 

The next time, he does wake up. He's started leaving his window open lately, and sure enough, that's exactly how Theo gets in, bringing a fresh breeze of hair with him that hits Liam's bare shoulder coldly, making him shiver almost as much as the anticipation. He pretends to be asleep as Theo gets in bed behind him, and then he rolls himself around so that they're as close as humanly possible without touching each other with more than Liam's hand resting against Theo's arm. He half expects Theo to move away, but it doesn't happen.

It continues like that for a while. Theo sneaking in a couple of nights a week, Liam pretending to be asleep. They get a little closer every time. Liam sleeps only in his boxer shorts, Theo soon begins stripping off before he gets in bed as well. One time, Liam wakes up with his head resting against Theo's shoulder. Another time, there's a strong arm slung around him from behind. It takes weeks, and they move in baby steps, but then Liam gathers up all his courage and just drapes himself around Theo's back, pulling the other boy close against his chest that his heart seems to be trying to escape.

 

It's the most exciting thing he's ever done, for a while. Skin on skin contact and a position that can't be blamed on their sleeping bodies moving by themselves at night anymore. It's deliberate, very obviously. Liam's making clear that he's seeking the proximity, and Theo melts back into him. They spoon every night from then on, one way or the other. Autumn turns from romantically colorful to windy and cold. They cuddle.

 

It can't be called anything else anymore. They're not just lying in bed anymore, and they're not just accidentally touching. The brushing of a hand against a body has turned into deliberate reaching out for another. Being close is their only way to find sleep by now. There barely are any nights when Theo doesn't come over. They don't talk about it, but somewhere inside Liam, he's sure that Theo knows all the things he wants to say. There's an understanding between them that goes beyond the meaning that words can bear.

 

One night, when Liam is a little more restless than usually, tossing and turning around in Theo's arms again and again, he's pulled closer against Theo's beating heart, and then Theo tugs at the sheets and wraps them around the both of them tightly, and then his lips are suddenly on Liam's face, high on his cheek, just beneath his eye. It's more soft pressure than it's an actual kiss, but it excites Liam. His hands snake around Theo's hips and stay in his back.

 

The nights shared with Theo are magical. Nothing happens between them. A few chaste kisses on the back of a hand or the other's forehead are about as far as it goes, but all the rest of it is still a pretty damn big thing. There's no hesitation when Theo gets in bed. They find their way to each other, snuggling up as if it's the only thing they ever do. November nights are warm between the two of them, every nightmare can be defeated by a squeezed hand or circles drawn into the other's back. It's become a normal thing soon enough, and Theo doesn't ever spend a night anywhere else than entangled with Liam. The rules of their game might be unspoken, but they both know them, they're both devoted to them.

 

Only one thing is missing, Liam thinks. Only one morning when Theo doesn't leave. Just once. Just once, he wants to wake up and have both daylight and Theo at the same time. Just once, he wants to look into his face and see that there's no regret in it when the sun is up. That what they do at night doesn't happen in darkness because it needs to be hidden away. That there's no shame in it. Liam needs to know. He needs to hear Theo say his name, for once. He wants a goodbye before the other boy leaves him.

 

Liam cages Theo with one arm and one leg draped over his body, clinging to him like a little monkey. He doesn't need to open his eyes to be able to tell that the sun is rising. He can feel it through Theo, through the hands slowly letting go of him, the breathing getting more and more uneven. There's something heavy in the air around them, something that weighs him down, but Liam is done with that.

 

"No," he whispers, his eyes remaining shut, his arms tightening around Theo.

 

"No what?" Theo asks, his voice not rising above a whisper either.

 

"No," Liam repeats, "don't leave me, Theo."

 

"Sun is rising," Theo says. It's Liam's own fault. He's been accepting it as a reason for too long.

 

"No," he mumbles, shaking his head lightly, "not good enough anymore."

 

Theo stills beneath him, taking in a deep breath. "You want me to stay?"

 

"I want you to want to stay," Liam answers truthfully.

 

There's a moment of a silence that feels kind of tense. It has Liam tempted to open his eyes, but he gives Theo one more moment, and then he can hear a breath being released, and a hand cups his face, a thumb stroking over his cheek. "Liam," Theo says softly.

 

Liam smiles. They shift a little bit and find themselves hugging each other tightly, holding on, breathing each other in. In broad daylight. And nothing can stop them.


End file.
